22 PhD Positions in Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Italy (2019)

Our Programme (www.mecc.polimi.it) is currently seeking applicants for 23 fully-funded PhD positions; additional grants may be available within the same call for application at a later stage (after May 21st). Candidates with scholarship (net salary 1.325 euro/month) will receive extra- funding (550 euro/month) for research periods abroad, and all positions will benefit from financial aid for research materials and conferences, and are free of tuition fees. Applicants must hold an MSc degree (or equivalent) and certified English language proficiency.

The proposed PhD paths have a standard duration of 3 years, and will be performed in one of these four research areas, where selected research topics are available:

1) Advanced Materials and Smart Structures (9 scholarships):
Research on advanced materials and smart structures is playing a crucial role in all the branches of mechanical and production engineering. The design and development of innovative materials (e.g. nano- and micro-structured materials, foamed alloys, metamaterials, bioinspired ones) is relevant to enhance specific functional properties customized on engineering applications.

- Design of novel alloys for additive manufacturing processes;
- Lead-free piezo-ceramics obtained by binder jetting 3d printing technique;
- Modelling of structures and materials under the application of extreme loads (crash, impact, high pressure contact);
- Modelling of engineered surfaces and fracture resistant am materials;
- Smart materials for advanced metallurgical processes (interdoctoral);
- Tribodesign of energy saving oils
- Ultra high speed active balancing systems
- Wind engineering and wind energy
- Generic scholarship in the field of Advanced modelling and testing of materials for machine design

2) Sustainable Mobility (2 scholarships)
In order to address the societal challenges defined by EU and referring to CO2 emission, energy efficiency, noise pollution, zero accidents and renewable energy, a wide range of solutions need being studied and developed, which are applicable to the design, integration of design and manufacturing, testing and monitoring of transport systems, vehicles and infrastructures.

- Two generic scholarships are available in this area, focusing on Railways and automotive.

3) Engineering Design and Manufacturing for the Industry of the Future (11 scholarships):
Industrial production in Europe accounts for the 16% of the European GPD and is a keydriver for innovation, productivity and job creation. As stated in the 2014-15 road map of the PPP Factory of the Future "future factory will be clean, highly performing, environmentally friendly and socially sustainable". This research area focuses on improving the performance of the industry of the future through the innovative application of technologies, processes and methods to the design and manufacturing of industrial products.

- Advanced and smart manufacturing (2 scholarships);
- Advanced measuring systems for applied research;
- Big data analysis monitoring and control in additive manufacturing;
- Development and qualification of advanced measuring systems;
- Effect of whole-body vibration on workers (interdoctoral);
- Energy saving in manufacturing;
- In‐situ dmld process monitoring;
- In situ-monitoring of 3d bioprinting of novel biomaterials (interdoctoral);
- Prognostics and health management in machine tools and manufacturing industry;
- Generic scholarship in the field of Methods and tools for new product development.

4) MeccPhD International Track (1 scholarship):
International Track, in collaboration with top-level European Technical Universities. The PhD candidates enrolled within this area will be supervised by two Faculty members, one from PoliMi supervisor and one from an IDEA League university (Chalmers, TU Delft, ETH Zurich, RWTH Aachen). Prospective candidates are asked to perform their application referring to one of the thesis topics in the framework of:

Double PhD (fully-funded position, 4 years duration) in the following research fields:
- Off-shore Wind Farm Control: (Politecnico di Milano - TU Delft: supervisors prof. Alberto Zasso, prof. Jan-Willem van Wingerden);
- Pit stop Manufacturing: (Politecnico di Milano - RWTH Aachen: supervisors prof. Tullio Tolio, prof. Robert Schmitt).

Co-supervision (fully-funded position, 3 years duration) in the following research fields:
- Study of lacunar morphology and micro-crack patterns to understand human bone disease (Politecnico di Milano - ETH Zurich: supervisors prof. Laura Vergani, prof. Ralph Müller);
- Diagnostics and Prognostics in Presence of Model and Estimation Uncertainties (Politecnico di Milano - Chalmers University of Technology: supervisors prof. Francesco Braghin, prof. Thomas Abrahmsson);
- Human-robot interaction for large industrial robots (Politecnico di Milano - RWTH Aachen: supervisors prof. Francesco Braghin, prof. Robert Schmitt);
- Stochastic MPC for urban traffic management (Politecnico di Milano - TU Delft: supervisors prof. Francesco Braghin, prof. Bart de Schutter);
- 4D printing of shape memory polymers (SMPs) and their applications in biomedical engineering (Politecnico di Milano - TU Delft: supervisors prof. Laura Vergani, prof. Amir Zadpoor);
- Predictive simulation methods for composite structures under extremeloading conditions (Politecnico di Milano - TU Delft: supervisors proff. Marco Giglio/Andrea Manes, prof. Chiara Bisagni).

Our PhD is a key instrument to access leading academic and non-academic positions at national and international level within universities and research institutions, large industrial and consulting companies, SMEs. We rank 7th in the world according to QS World University Rankings, and 1st in Italy (Mechanical, Aeronautical & Manufacturing Engineering 2019).

We have ongoing collaborations with a wide network of national and international companies and SMEs, resulting in industry-based research grants and also leading to a 100% employment rate of our doctorates after one year, with higher salary rates with respect to master title holders in the same field.

For more information please visit the following link:
22 PhD Positions in Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Italy (2019)